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The Battle of Thermopylae - Persian View
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Imperator Invictus View Drop Down
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Posts: 3151 		  Quote Imperator Invictus Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: The Battle of Thermopylae - Persian View
    Posted: 15-Aug-2006 at 23:26
If not for the unusual amount of "coverage" from Greek sources that inflate the battle to epic proportions, even Western histories would have viewed it as a skirmish. There were probably dozens of similar battles not well known today.
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Emperor Barbarossa View Drop Down
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Posts: 2888 		  Quote Emperor Barbarossa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2006 at 10:34
I mean that they would have been flanked immediately, vulkan02, and would have not caused as many casualties. I doubt the Spartans killed 20,000 Persians, but they may have killed 5,000-10,000.

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Posts: 1835 		  Quote vulkan02 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2006 at 09:32
Originally posted by Emperor Barbarossa

Yes, it was very easy for the Spartans to defend a little alley with a phalanx. If they had been on the open field, they would have been flanked and slaughtered with much less Persian casualties.

They DID get flanked and slaughtered after a greek traitor showed the Persians a way around the pass through the mountain. But that 300 spartans killed 20000 persians is a little unlikely.
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Posts: 804 		  Quote Raider Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 15-Aug-2006 at 08:55
In fact I have always thought Leonidas and the Spartans as fools. They died for nothing, there is no honour in that.
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Posts: 223 		  Quote YusakuJon3 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 14-Aug-2006 at 20:00
Originally posted by Cyrus Shahmiri

For Iranians it was not a battle but just a minor skirmish.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell.  The real fights didn't come until Salamis and at Palatea in the following year.  My guess is that if King Xerxes didn't lose that fleet, the ancient Hellenes would've been another (rather troublesome) satellite kingdom added to the long list that his predecessors had built up.
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Posts: 2888 		  Quote Emperor Barbarossa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2006 at 11:16
Yes, it was very easy for the Spartans to defend a little alley with a phalanx. If they had been on the open field, they would have been flanked and slaughtered with much less Persian casualties.

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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13-Aug-2006 at 02:32
It was the terrain. Me thinks this movie is going to show them in open field.
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Posts: 211 		  Quote Odin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Aug-2006 at 22:55
There wrn't just 300 Greeks at the battle, since the Spartans brought a few thousand soldiers from thier satelite states.Greek writers also greatly exaggerated the number of Persian troops. I'd sat it was around ~5,000 Greeks against ~20,000 Persians.
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Posts: 6240 		  Quote Cyrus Shahmiri Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Aug-2006 at 13:47
For Iranians it was not a battle but just a minor skirmish.
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Posts: 98 		  Quote Ave1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Aug-2006 at 13:21
I know one thing is for sure, the Greek sources is completly exagerrated, indicating that they were vastly outnumbered.   Hopefully we can get some more accurate and neutral sources.  
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Posts: 1098 		  Quote Afghanan Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 12-Aug-2006 at 12:39

In leau of the new upcoming movie (Titled '300')  by the comic adaptation of the battle at Thermopylae, is there any Persian sources of the battle?



Edited by Afghanan - 12-Aug-2006 at 12:40
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